JOHNS CREEK, Ga. — Johns Creek officials joined Convention and Visitors Bureau board members Feb. 6 to draft a list of possible tourism projects for fiscal year 2025, which begins Oct. 1.
As the tourism agency for the city, the CVB creates projects that will draw people to Johns Creek and encourage them to stay in the hotels that fund the bureau through the hotel/motel tax. The group will have around $257,000 in anticipated collections to spend.
This is the third year the council and the CVB have met in a formal setting to evaluate possible projects, and residual tensions from past clashes were mixed in with the discussion.
In 2021, the City Council attempted to terminate its agreement with the CVB after it had been repeatedly accused of not abiding by Georgia Open Records and Open Meetings laws and of berating sitting council members. But, then-Mayor Mike Bodker vetoed that action, leaving it to the current council to iron out disagreements.
At the Feb. 6 session, some board members stayed adamant about projects being ones that could be “showcased,” shaking their heads when Interim City Manager Kimberly Greer pointed out the need for engineering plans on larger efforts.
Tourism bureau members came to the table with eight potential projects, many carried over from last year. Board member Arthur Holst said the idea was to isolate on projects the CVB could fund that are “visible” to showcase the value of Johns Creek. The board plans to hire a marketing agency to help.
“The problem in Johns Creek, in my opinion as a relative newcomer to this body, is that there’s nothing really pulling it all together in one message, right?” Holst said. “It’s all kind of siloed.”
One proposed project calls for beautification of the newly opened trail connection at Creekside Park and an additional trail that would connect other hotels to…
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